Short Mineded: Here It Comes

Making mistakes is one of few universal truths. We all do it and some more than others. Almost as if they can’t help but touch the red hot iron just to make sure it burns. Some call it stubborn others call it hard headed. In my humble opinion, I think it’s a case of selective memory loss. Our brains are hardwired to keep us safe. It’s why we instinctively grab the “Oh Shit” bar if our friend takes a turn too sharp, or double sniff the milk that’s supposed to expire soon. Preservation of self is key, but oh boy do we let some very similar things slip past the defense from time to time.

The resolutions we’ll never keep because they go against who we are fundamentally. I’m not a morning person, at all. So I don’t resolve to work out in the morning I just work out more than I did before at the time I can. Farmers can have dawn; I’m a dusk kind of guy. Some people go headlong into fruitless relationships while convincing themselves that “this time will be different”. It’s not different, it’s the same song you’ve been dancing to for years but for some reason can’t find the beat. Maybe it’s that need for things to work out the way that we want them to over an acceptance of what’s really taking place.

Then again, maybe that negligence is another symptom of our automatic self preservation. Our brain’s wiring going on hyper drive and protecting our psyche for the short term as opposed to the long. Accentuating the positives of any given situation to counteract the glaring negatives. I don’t believe that people make mistakes on purpose, but they’ll take a chance on something in hopes that it will turn out different. Even when we can all see it coming, like a slow moving car accident. So maybe when we touch the red hot iron, it’s not to see if it’s actually hot but to see if we learned some way to not be burned by it this time around.